Equities in Toronto traded flat on Thursday, weighed down by uncertainty around the Russia-Ukraine peace talks, although energy stocks gained ahead of the release of the 2022 budget later in the day.
The TSX Composite Index fell just short of breakeven, 8.61 points to begin Thursday trading at 21,779.99.
The Canadian dollar fell 0.03 cents to 79.55 cents U.S.
BlackBerry plans to settle a more than eight-year-old lawsuit claiming it defrauded shareholders by inflating the success and profitability of its long-discontinued BlackBerry 10 smartphones.
BlackBerry shares capsized 15 cents, or 1.7%, to $8.53.
ATB Capital Markets resumed coverage on Auxly Cannabis Group with an outperform rating and a price target of 40 cents. Auxly shares stayed put at 15 cents.
RBC cut the target price on Canfor Corp. to $40.00 from $45.00. Canfor lost 46 cents, or 2%, to $22.33.
RBC also cut the target price on Interfor to $45.00 from $50.00. Interfor shares doffed 20 cents to $30.51.
The Trudeau Liberals will unveil their 2022 budget around 4 p.m. ET which they promise will be “fiscally responsible” after having already pledged billions in new programs and increased military spending.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 4.72 points to 885.60.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive in the first hour, led by energy, rumbling 1.1% higher, materials, ahead 0.8%, and gold, better by 0.5%.
The four laggards were weighed mostly by health-care stocks, fading 1.1%, while financial and real-estate issues each lost 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell again on Thursday, following back-to-back losing sessions, as traders weighed the Federal Reserve’s plans to tighten monetary policy.
The Dow Jones Industrials fell 150.52 points to at 34,345.99.
The S&P 500 regained 3.07 points to 4,484.22
The NASDAQ Composite picked up 43.21 points to 13,932.03.
Utilities, consumer staples and health care companies rose slightly on Thursday as investors continued their search for safe-haven stocks, which included Walmart, Merck and Procter & Gamble.
On the tech front, shares of HP Inc surged 13% after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed a stake in the tech hardware maker.
Investors also digested initial jobless claims on Thursday, which came in at 166,000 last week, their lowest level since 1968, and signaled the job market remains under pressure.
Thursday’s moves come after the Fed released minutes from its March meeting on Wednesday, which showed that officials planned to reduce their trillions in bond holdings with a consensus amount around $95 billion.
Meanwhile, policymakers indicated that one or more 50 basis-point interest rate hikes could be warranted to battle surging inflation.
Treasury prices fell as yields increased to 2.62%, from Wednesday’s 2.59%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.58 to $97.81 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices progressed $10.80 to $1,933.90 U.S. an ounce.